The Descendant, Echoes of the Revanchist – Chapter 36

The Rya System

38 Minutes into Operation Dragonsnake

Dannix Krell looked at Maris with an extremely quizzical expression. "Are you sure you want to do it that way lass?" He just wanted to make sure he'd understood Maris's explanation correctly.

Maris nodded confidently and stared upwards at the three turbo lifts that led up the dorsal tower where her quarry was hiding. "Absolutely. He's up there. I can sense him."

"You realize that if we do it this way, we'll basically be sealing ourselves off from the rest of that tower plus the ventral tower right beneath us." Dannix wanted to be sure Maris was completely aware of what the consequences would be. "We won't be able to stop them from shooting at our fighters."

"And if we don't get that damned dark side adept to stop what he's doing, the towers will be of no consequence," Maris pointed out. "His use of Battle Meditation will eventually spread to all of us and destroy any chance we might have of successfully completing this mission."

Dannix nodded once, satisfied that Maris had carefully weighed all the risks. "All right then." He turned to a small team of Mandalorian demolition experts. "You heard the lady. Get these things wired and ready to go."

Katya stepped up next to Maris. "You need some help with this loser?" she asked pointing her thumb at the ceiling.

Maris shook her head. "Mm mm. Like I said, I can sense him. He firmly believes his skill in the force to be much greater than it is. That's why it's taking him so long to find his Battle Meditation to be very effective."

"Just don't get too cocky," Katya gave her a friendly warning.

"I won't Katya," she smiled. "I promise. Not when I have a wedding to look forward to."

What she was saying went right over Katya's head. "Who's wedding?"

Maris's smile got brighter. "My own of course."

Katya's eyes widened and a big smile spread across her face. "Did Dahlgen…"

Maris nodded. "On Ton-Falk. We plan to marry to marry as soon as we find someone to perform the ceremony."

Katya embraced her Zabrak friend. "Then you'd really better not get to cocky."

Maris laughed. "I'll be fine."

Katya released her friend, nodded once and headed off down another corridor to rejoin Sergeant Krunx and Rebel Team B as they attempted to reach the power core. With the area around the turbo lifts now overrun and most vestiges of the Imperial reinforcements either eliminated or scattered, all teams that had come in on the second wave were hastily trying to fulfill their mission objectives. Dijas, Cronus and Rhona had led Mando Team A and Rebel Team C towards the engineering section but they were encountering heavy resistance elsewhere. And Wookiee Team B being led by Forndak and Chenlamabec was headed towards the maintenance section.

On top of that, Huuruundar and Salparoo had led Wookiee Team A through a series of maintenance crawlways, air vents and turbo lift shafts to assault the ventral defense tower that would not be affected by Maris's plan. Sounds of what was happening below could be clearly heard by Maris and Dannix where they stood. Dannix had sent a small team of Mandalorians with them as it appeared he wasn't going to need them all for the dorsal tower assault.

The Mandalorian demolition team got to work wiring the three turbo lift cars and packing them with explosives, per Maris's idea. In truth, they weren't sure whether this little stunt Maris had in mind was going to work, but they were willing to give it a try. A couple of moments later one of the Mandalorians emerged and reported, "We're ready. Sure hope you know what you're doing."

"We'll be right behind you if you need support," Dannix assured Maris.

"I'm counting on that Dannix," she said.

"After all," Dannix said. "I don't want to see Dahlgen standing at the altar all by himself."

Maris looked at Dannix in surprise.

He smiled under his helmet. "I overhead what you just told Katya. Congratulations lass and may your lives together be full of joy happiness and little ones."

Maris smiled. "Thanks Dannix," she replied.

He nodded once. "Let's do this."

Two levels above them, a Nautolan dark side adept was concentrating so hard on the developing battle outside, he was totally oblivious to what was happening around him including the gunnery crews that surrounded him and feebly tried to pickoff the rebel interlopers one by one. Pitiful. Aware that his use of Battle Meditation had just caused another Rebel fighter to be shot down, a wicked grin creased his lips. Still, they kept trying to shake off the power's effects. These pathetic fools. Didn't they understand that they were already beaten? Didn't they understand that their feeble attempts to thwart him were useless?

Katarina would be pleased by his performance. Now that he had nearly all the rebel fighters under his control, it was time to expand to the rebel warships. He'd start with the command crew of the command ship. Once they were out of the way, picking apart the other ships would be child's play. Ah, they were planning something, something that could actually give them the upper hand in the battle against their opponent. Well that wasn't going to happen. You're no match for that enemy warship. He'd just tear apart their will to fight. It's hopeless. Slowly, they'd all submit to his will. You're will to resist is faltering. And then he'd see to it they were destroyed. You will not escape destruction.

He sensed the danger looming over him an instant before it hit. All three turbo lifts in the center of the room chimed, announcing their simultaneous arrival. An instant later all three lifts erupted outward as the Mandalorian rigged explosives detonated. Razor sharp metal and other debris was propelled forward at incredible speed followed by searing hot jets of flame. The lucky ones were instantly incinerated while those who were a little less fortunate suffered horrifying burns or were cut to ribbons by the shards of flying metal.

The Nautolan Dark Jedi was thrown several meters by the blast and he landed roughly on his head in a far corner. The break in his concentration forced him to abandon the use of Battle Meditation and his mental grip on his victims was immediately released. Outraged by this development, the Nautolan flipped over on to his feet and stood up. He coughed once in the now smoke filled room and waved his arm around in an effort to see what was happening

Damn it all to the nine Corellian hells! It would take him a considerable amount of time to reestablish the power of Battle Meditation and influence the same number of minds he'd had influence over a few seconds ago. An Imperial officer, one of the few survivors of the blast approached him. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"GAAAAAH!" the Nautolan screamed as he ignited his lightsaber and sliced the idiot in half. He began turning quickly in all directions, seething with fury and searching for someone else to kill. Of all the… no he wasn't all right! He was furious! Now he'd have to start using his Battle Meditation all over again from the very beginning! He wanted blood! He wanted those damned rebels to suffer!

He sensed the presence of the Light behind him and he slowly turned. Someone was there, bright and shining. A foe worthy of his fighting talents. But where was he? In all the smoke he couldn't whoever was there to challenge him. "Show yourself Jedi," he dared his opponent to step forward.

Step forward she did and when he saw that it was, in fact, a woman challenging him he spat on the floor in disgust. It actually bordered on insulting in his mind. A woman, and a Zabrak woman at that. Did this specimen of the weaker sex really think she was a match for him? With almost no modesty when it came to clothing style, he could clearly pick out no less that dozen attack points he could exploit with ease. He was further outraged by her appearance as she ignited a yellow lightsaber and adopted a Shien defensive stance. He spun his crimson saber in an intricate pattern of lights and settled in to a Djem So stance. "I don't know what possessed you to come here schutta," the Nautolan spat. "But it matters little. You have chosen death in doing so!"

"Yada, yada, yada… like I haven't heard all this before," Maris snorted. "Prepare to die… you will not succeeed… pain and suffering." She shook her head in exasperation as she felt Dahlgen's Force presence begin to fuel her for the task ahead. "Ew, you'd think you dark side wimps would come up with some original threats." She executed a Makashi salute and stood ready. "Since urging you to resist the darkness is clearly a waste of time, let's just get on with it, shall we?"

"With pleasure," the Nautolan yelled. In a rage, he charged in and hacked at Maris's head, intending to cleave it off with one swift stroke. Maris stepped back and raised her weapon, parrying the Nautolan's blade to the side.

The Nautolan immediately followed up by pivoting to his side and slashing at Maris's side but she'd already evaded the attack by turning out of the blade's path. Her adversary stretched his hand out in an effort to Force Choke and she just barely felt her throat start to constrict. Throwing up the power of Force Resistance, she canceled the Nautolan's dark use of the Force. Switching to the Djem So style of fighting, she swung her blade across her body and drove the Nautolan back. Following up with a quick turn of her lightsaber, she brought it crashing down at her opponent's head and he was just able to get his defense up before she'd have planted it in his skull.

Maris retreated as her opponent attacked her again. Angling her blade down, she guarded against him, shoved back and hit him with Force Blast. The deafening sound coupled with the bright flash stunned the Nautolan and Maris planted her foot into his chest, sending him tumbling to the floor.

In a flash, the dark Nautolan was on his knees, his saber at a guard position, but Maris had wisely not pressed the perceived advantage. Her opponent got to his feet and assumed a guard stance again as Maris readied herself for his next attack. It came fast and furious as the Nautolan charged forward, relying on his rage to guide his weapon. As the violent display of red danced all around her, Maris moved and parried multiple times, her circle of defense unbreakable and further outraging her opponent.

The unmistakable crash of lightsaber blades echoed throughout as the Nautolan tried to wear her down and smash through Maris's defense. But she felt her own power merged with Dahlgen's through their gift and it guided her blade with what seemed to be impossible speed and precision. She parried another attack from her opponent, turned and made a quick thrust at him. It caught him slightly off guard and hopped backwards to evade. That was all she needed to hit him with a powerful Force Throw and it sent the Nautolan flying back and once more crashing on the floor.

He was up again in an instant, but once again Maris had not foolishly pressed her perceived advantage. Instead she merely taunted the Nautolan dark-sider. "You'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to beat me – water boy."

Over Azkul Base

What was that annoying buzzing? That annoying buzzing sound in her ear; what the hell was it? Was it… was it the master alarm? Ranna Gorjaye checked her scanners. By the Force, there was an enemy TIE behind her! And he was about to achieve prime position to get off a shot. She needed to get away from him. But how? Every time she looked at the controls of her fighter it seemed like she just couldn't figure out how they worked.

Wait a second. If… if she jammed the stick hard to left, she might be able to break away from the enemy fighter and spoil his position. It was worth a try. Still not knowing whether or not the trick would work, Ranna pulled hard on her control stick and the fighter turned hard to the left. Behind her, the TIE pilot had just lined up and his shot and cursed loudly when Ranna successfully avoided him.

Ranna smiled as the enemy fighter shot past her. Her head… it was clearing up! She glanced down at her fighter's controls and like a tidal wave, the memories of what to do and how to do it came back to her. What the hell had happened? Who the hell cared? Whatever had affected her wasn't affecting her anymore. Whatever dirty trick the Imperials had played had nearly killed her. And it had killed her Dressellian friend and who knew how many others. That realization sent Ranna into a whole other dimension of pissed off. Gripping her control stick once more, she snarled, "All right you Imperial bastards. If dirty is how you want to play, let's get dirty."

Jamming the stick back to the right, she held her X-Wing in a tight turn and reacquired the enemy fighter. Surprised that he was now the defender in their contest, the enemy TIE began to jink back and forth in an attempt to shake Ranna's pursuit. She hung close as the targeting system beeped softly in her headset. In a near panic, the TIE broke hard to the right. "Oh no you don't," Ranna hissed.

She turned hard to follow, rolled her fighter to the left and jammed the throttle all the way forward. Successfully completing the Tallon Roll, she reacquired the TIE again. Her targeting system announced a lock and she fired. Her elation at destroying her opponent was tempered by the knowledge that her Dressellian friend had already been lost as a result of whatever had caused them to temporarily lose their minds. "That was for you Ereefa," she said softly as she choked back her tears.

Ranna would grieve for her friend and comrade later. Right now, she wanted some payback from those Imperial bastards. And she was going to get it. "Squad leaders, this is Knight Leader. Whatever was causing us to lose our heads seems to have gone. No idea what it was, but get a head count. I want to know how much damage was done to our forces as a result."

The return report did not sit well with Ranna. Six ships were left in her own Knight squadron. Snake Squadron had been all but decimated as only four fighters reported in. Mangir and Boma squadrons reported seven fighters each and Nexu Squadron was holding up the best with nine fighters. Unfortunately one of those lost from Nexu squadron had been its Wroonian male commander.

"Change of plans guys," Ranna ordered. "As of this moment, all remnants of Snake squadron are under Knight squadron command. It's going to be up to us to keep the space between the fleet and base free of enemy fighters and transports. All other fighters are hereby diverted to the fleet. Nexu squadron, defend the Dominion. Mangir and Boma Squadrons, attack the enemy capital ships at will and concentrate as much as you can on the enemy Star Destroyers."

"Yes ma'am!" several voices returned acknowledgement of their new orders.

"Let's do it," Ranna said holding her fighter in a turn. Instantly, her scanners acquired a TIE that was attempting to maneuver behind another X-Wing. The other Rebel fighter broke sharply but the attacking TIE, realizing Ranna was on his tail, didn't bother to pursue. He turned hard the opposite way and quickly turned back in again, trying to force Ranna out in front of him.

The hard-nosed rebel pilot wasn't fooled by the tactic and she throttled back slightly, keeping the TIE in front of her. Once more the defending TIE broke and Ranna yanked back on the stick, appearing to pull away from the engagement. At the last second, she pushed the stick forward and turned slightly, falling in behind the TIE again as he completed his break. "See ya bucket head," Ranna sneered as she fired turning the enemy TIE into scrap.

A new group of alert signals reached her ears. "Commander," another pilot reported to her. "Those damned Imperials are trying to land another wave of reinforcements on the base. Five shuttles are inbound."

"Well let's make sure they never arrive," Ranna said. "Knight Three and Knight Seven, on me. Set heading for direct intercept. Let's go." Holding her fighter in a steep dive, Ranna observed her comrades take flanking positions next to her. Leveling out, she gunned the throttle and sped straight at the incoming shuttle craft. "Arm proton torpedoes," she ordered.

Up ahead, the Imperial pilot in the lead shuttle craft took notice on his scanner of the incoming fighters. "Three rebel fighters jumping us," he announced. "Targets do not appear to be taking evasive action."

"They will," his commander responded with confidence. "Stay your course."

"That's it you idiot," Ranna said as she saw the shuttle craft maintain its heading. She transmitted a message to her two wingmen. "Full power to front shields. Stay in formation until I tell you."

"Yes, ma'am."

In the lead shuttle, the pilot noted that the rebel fighters still hadn't taken evasive action. "Twenty-five thousand meters and closing sir," he said.

"Stay on course," the commander replied, confident the rebel fighters would peel off any second now. But despite his belief, the rebel fighters kept coming. The pilot issued another warning a few seconds later when the incoming fighters were at twenty thousand meters and closing. Hmm, maybe these rebels were going to problematic after all. "Open fire," the commander ordered.

Triggering the forward cannons, the shuttle threw everything it could at the approaching fighters. But with full power to their forward shields, the incoming X-Wings shrugged off the blasts with ease. "Engage targeting systems, but hold your fire until I say."

Almost immediately, the incoming X-Wings achieved a target lock and the shuttle's ECM blared horrifyingly loud in the pilot's ears. He started to panic. "Fourteen thousand meters and closing sir! Impact in eight seconds!"

"Stay on course," the commander replied.

"We're locked on sir!"

"Stay on course," the commander repeated.

"Nine thousand meters and closing! Impact in five seconds!"

"Stay on course!" the commander once again said, this time a little more forcefully. "Fire again," he ordered the gunners.

With impending terror filling his being, the pilot stared straight ahead. He could just barely make out the outlines of the approaching X-Wings. Seven thousand meters out and the outlines of those approaching fighters was getting larger and larger. And the gunfire they were throwing at the fighters didn't seem to affect them or even slow them down.

Sweat dripped off his brow. His commander had said they would take evasive action but as he could make out the shape of the main guns on all three approaching fighters that just wasn't turning out to be true. Five thousand meters and only three and half seconds to impact. He panicked. "They're gonna ram us! Scatter!"

"No you idiot!" his commander howled as the pilot yanked hard on the stick and he felt the shuttle adjust course."

Ranna breathed a sigh of relief. Another second and she'd have ordered her fighters to break off. And even if she had, it may have been too late that point. But as she saw the shuttle craft start to scatter, she smiled. "Now! Fire torpedoes!" she yelled as she launched.

The ECM bleeped horrendously in the ear of the shuttle commander who'd insisted that course be maintained. In disgust, he threw his hat at the pilot. "You ignorant nerf. You've killed us all!" An instant later his world went eternally black as Ranna's torpedoes found their mark.

"Yahoo," Ranna shouted as she witnessed three of the five incoming shuttle craft be shot down by her torpedo strategy. She pushed her stick forward and entered a slight diving turn, chasing after one of the other remaining shuttle craft. It was in a wide turn and desperately trying to reacquire a course to the base. Looking around, she spotted one of her wingmen. "Knight Three, execute attack plan Cresh on target at four-one-six by zero-one-two degrees."

"Copy," Knight Three responded.

Ranna held her fighter in a gradual turn to acquire the running shuttle while keeping a sharp eye out for enemy fighters trying to acquire her. Up ahead, she saw Knight Three streak across the fleeing shuttle, strafing it dead center. Its later thrusters blew out and started to spin wildly. Ranna tightened her turn just a bit and destroyed the careening shuttle with a steady burst.

"Keep it up boys," she said. "We'll win this fight yet."

Admiral Regnar looked out the Charybdis's bridge view ports at the Cerberus in disbelief. Why hadn't it launched its shuttle craft to deliver reinforcements to Azkul Base yet? It was a Star Destroyer and it was in a fight with vessels much smaller that itself. Why the hell was Captain Franz so reluctant to launch? It didn't dawn on him even as he witnessed the destruction of one of the Cerberus's Lancer-class escorts that the Lancer's were shaping up to be far less effective against enemy fighters and warships than the Imperial top brass touted them to be. As a result, the Cerberus was having to devote much of its time to defend itself against the punishing attacks of the Warhammer, Columbia and their escorts.

He was also infuriated by the fact that now all of his shuttle craft were destroyed and it didn't appear any more reinforcements were going to get through to the base. Regnar realized that the base was probably going to fall and now they're only chance to win this battle was to win against the Rebel task force. Then they'd be able to demand the surrender of the Rebel forces within the base.

Time to end this, Regnar thought. "Emperor's Fury, Indicter and Empire's Fist… regroup and attack according to plan seven!"

Aboard the Dominion, Admiral Lassif watched as a pair of TIE fighters streaked past the main view port and were chased by a pair of X-Wings. There was an uncomfortable jolt as the Dominion suffered a minor hit and Admiral Lassif steadied herself. To the left, the Charybdis was maneuvering to get into a better position and to the right, two Dreadnaught-class cruisers and one Dragon approached. The three smaller cruisers started to dive for what appeared to be a Cutting the Belly maneuver. "Helm, set course at three-zero-five degrees. Dodonna's Revenge and Freedom, move to intercept bogies at zero-eight-three, mark twelve."

Admiral Lassif hung on as the Dominion lurched and started to turn away from the approaching Imperial cruisers. Acting her orders the Dodonna's Revenge, a DP-20 gunship, and the Freedom, a Nebulon-B frigate, moved to force the enemy cruisers to change course. Both Rebel ships opened fire and using its superior speed and maneuverability, the Dodonna's Revenge slipped under the belly of the Emperor's Fury. It was the lead Imperial Dreadnaught in the attack run and despite suffering several punishing hits to its underside, it continued to charge and close in on the Freedom. A second DP-20 gunship known as Ryloth's Pride and a CR-90 corvette known as the Hand of the Jedi came to the Freedom's defense.

Ryloth's Pride shot ahead and followed a trajectory similar to that taken by her sister ship. At the same time, the Hand of the Jedi passed between the Emperor's Fury and the Freedom. Although her side was exposed to the enemy cruisers and she sustained several hits, she was also able to turn her turbo laser batteries on the Emperor's Fury, forcing it to break off and peel away. The sudden turn of the Emperor's Fury left the second Dreadnaught, the Indicter, at the mercy of the Freedom's forward turbo lasers and several shots were traded between the two ships as they broke away from one another.

Admiral Lassif smiled to herself as the Dominion continued to turn away from the assault run. "All right where's the Charybdis?"

Her answer came in the form of the master alarm that suddenly sounded throughout the ship. Though she had been successful in avoiding the attack run by the smaller cruisers, her turn had taken the Dominion right in front of the Charybdis. It was exactly what Admiral Regnar had wanted. The run by the three smaller cruisers had been a ruse and as soon as the Dominion had started its turn, he'd ordered his ship to do a hard course reversal. Now with the Dominion alone and without half its protection, it was dead in his sights.

"All ahead full! Fire one!" Regnar ordered.

The first volley from the Charybdis hit the Dominion broadside, destroying several of the ship's turbo laser and anti-starfighter batteries. A few hull breeches were sustained and some Rebel personnel were ejected into the vacuum of space before the main computer could get a temporary seal in place. The electrical connection to the ship's maneuvering thrusters was damaged and several fires broke out along the vessel.

"Fire two!" Regnar ordered.

Volley number two slammed into the Dominion just below the bridge tower, destroying more gun emplacements and causing several more hull breeches. The bridge of the Dominion shook violently in all directions and all personnel were thrown to the floor. Admiral Lassif and Captain Onasi struggled to their feet. "Damage report!" Admiral Lassif yelled.

The Charybdis was now passing directly in front of the Dominion. "Fire three!" Admiral Regnar ordered.

The third volley hit the Dominion directly in the bridge. Though the bridge shields prevented a hull breech, the impact caused everyone on the bridge to be tossed about like rag dolls. Admiral Lassif was thrown back along the command walkway while Captain Onasi was tossed into one of the crew pits. Several computer terminals and duty stations shorted out while others erupted in flames and sparks. Deck plates and ceiling panels buckled and cracked while large pieces of the ship's superstructure collapsed and crushed several crewmen trying to get out the way.

Another loud bang and another terrifying jolt blew out a power conduit sending several crewmen flying across the room. Razor sharp pieces of shrapnel flew through the bridge like miniature spears and the bridge lights went out for good. Deadly arcs of uncontrolled power leaped from the ruined conduit, frying more crewmen where they stood. Something landed on top of Captain Onasi, knocking the wind out of him. Struggling on to all fours, he managed to shuck whatever it was that had landed on him. He coughed violently as his vision became clouded by the smoke that was rapidly filling the bridge.

The emergency lighting flickered on and the bridge air scrubbers finally began doing their job. Even so, Captain Onasi could barely speak and when he did it was more of a hoarse whisper. "Admiral Lassif, are you there?" he asked.

No response returned.

"Admiral Lassif?" he asked again.

Still no answer.

"Anybody?" Captain Onasi asked in desperation.

The Hangars

"How many men you have left commander?" Marsala asked.

Far below on the deck of TIE Hangar One, the Mandalorian commander looked up and responded cheerfully, "More than enough to take down the next hangar!"

"Good," Marsala said from the catwalks above. "Stand fast, we'll be right down."

As Marsala walked along the catwalks back towards the control room, Rayna was at his heels. "You think the next hangar will be as difficult to overrun as this one was," she asked.

Marsala shrugged. "Who knows? Whether it is or it isn't is irrelevant. We have to take it to make sure all our avenues of escape are unobstructed. And we have to make sure that any more Imperial reinforcements that might make it in are stopped before they can penetrate very far into the base." He snorted loudly. "We don't want a repeat of what happened a few moments ago," he said referring to the Imperial reinforcements that had penetrated the base and the small Mandalorian Security team they'd wiped out to get in.

He suddenly stopped. Something was amiss. There was something nearby, something menacing.

Rayna was instantly on alert. "What is it?"

Marsala didn't answer her. Instead his gaze was fixated on a darkened corner of the catwalks. A green skinned Twi-lek female dressed in dark robes stood silently, sizing up her competition. Marsala had no idea how long she'd been there or perhaps if she'd been there all along. No matter, she was challenging him to a fight now. Without turning his gaze away from his adversary, he pointed towards the control room. "Go," he ordered Rayna.

By this time, Rayna had seen the female Twi'lek as well and the determined look on her face indicated her intentions. "I'll face her with you," she insisted.

"No," Marsala told her. "You need to take the rest of our team and secure that final hangar. I'll handle this."

"But Marsala…" Rayna protested.

"Rayna you don't yet have enough training to able to face her," Marsala warned her. "Now please, do as I say."

A look of disappointment came over Rayna's features. Not so much because she wouldn't be facing the Twi'lek, but because Marsala would be facing her alone. "All right Marsala," she said quietly. "Don't you die on me."

Marsala smiled. "I won't."

The female Twi'lek stepped forward as Rayna retreated and leaped back into the control room. She ignited her crimson bladed saber and laughed at Marsala. "Bold words for such a young whelp," she said harshly. The Twi'lek shook her head. "A kid. Of all the Jedi in this place, I get stuck fighting the kid?" She let out a snort of frustration. "Oh well, at least I'll prevent one more pathetic Jedi from reaching adulthood." She readied her weapon. "What do you think pitiful youngster?"

Marsala didn't flinch or show any fear. Adopting his own ready stance, he replied with, "Did your master actually teach you to fight? Or did you just learn how to spew meaningless words out of your yap?"

His words had the intended effect. They outraged the Twi'lek. "I'll show you meaningless you little brat!" She lunged at Marsala and swung her weapon violently down at his head. Unfortunately for her, Katarina had failed to tell the Twi'lek or any other of her dark underlings that one of the Jedi they could potentially face was her son and a descendant of Revan. His guard was up faster than the Twi'lek believed was possible and their clashed together with an angry hiss.

The female Twi'lek switched tactics and retreated, but immediately came at Marsala again with a shiak stab. Marsala anticipated the move, batting his opponent's blade aside as he completed a shun turn and retreated a couple paces. He advanced and spun his blade around several times in a fast and confusing pattern, attacking at the last second with a cut aimed at the Twi'lek's side. She wasn't fooled by the deception and got her blade up to guard and shove him back.

Marsala observed the Twi'lek was using the Shii-Cho style which meant she kept her blade reasonably close to her body during defense and was very careful about her extensions during attack. Traditionally, the easiest way to overcome that would be to simply over power her. But as he was smaller in stature than she was, Marsala doubted that was going to work.

She rushed him again, coming in from his left side then sweeping her blade up over her head in an attempt to decapitate him. Parrying her attack and guiding her blade out of the way, Marsala hit her with Force Throw causing her to stumble backwards. She laughed. "It's going to take a lot more than that to best me boy," she boasted. Again she went on the attack, delivering a quick series of powerful strikes, causing Marsala to backpedal as he defended himself.

Seeing that he was rapidly being forced into a disadvantage, Marsala back flipped from the catwalk he was on, over empty space and landed on another one nearby. It gave him just enough time to regain his footing and center himself in preparation for the Twi'lek's next charge. "I may be young dark one," he admitted. "But you underestimate my training and skill."

"I don't think so boy," the female Twi'lek taunted. "It is you who overestimate your abilities."

Marsala offered her a wry smile. "We'll see dark one."

Once more the Twi'lek attacked with enraged blows, searching for an opening in Marsala's defense. But in reality, she was playing right into Marsala's trap. Using the Soresu style, he defended himself against her continued assaults, forcing her to expend more and more Force energy while he spent very little. In her determined rage to finish him off, the female Twi'lek failed to recognize Marsala's plan.

With her rage building, the Twi'lek cut loose with Force Lightning and Marsala quickly snapped his blade up and held fast as the twisted energy coiled around it and dissipated. Outraged that her seemingly infallible attack was so easily thwarted, the Twi'lek tried again, sending a more powerful lightning blast forward. Marsala was left with no choice but to angle his saber and use Force Redirection, sending the destructive energy back at the Twi'lek.

Her cat-like reflexes saved her life as her redirected attack crashed into several support straps. Snapping under the strain, a portion of the catwalk gave way and she hopped back, narrowly avoiding a long fall to the hangar floor. In an instant Marsala was upon her, leaping over the gap in the catwalk and unleashing a Makashi-style assault that had the Twi'lek woman desperately trying to parry everything he threw at her.

Sweeping her blade across her body, the Twi'lek forced Marsala to dodge. Reversing direction, she aimed a shiak strike at his throat but Marsala's blade was there to intercept and their blades locked. He shoved back a bit, causing his opponent to stumble and he slammed his foot against the Twi'lek's ample chest. Air whooshed from her lungs and she fell over backwards.

In an instant she was back to her knees, holding her saber straight out to keep Marsala at bay. But he merely chuckled at his downed opponent. "How's that for overestimating?"

The Engineering Section

Katarina was actually disappointed as she watched the timer on the Mass Shadow Generator continue to spiral down. It didn't appear that Dahlgen was going to make it in time after all. It was a shame that she wouldn't get to see the look on his face as time expired and the generator went active. But at least she would perish knowing he had perished as well. And as for her son perishing in the imminent calamity… too bad really. The Empire would lose a potentially gifted subject. But perhaps it was for the best in any case. If she couldn't have Marsala, then no one could.

One minute to go. Then it would all be over. She would have her final revenge on Dahlgen for stealing Marsala from her and Marsala himself would be gone as well. Nope, no one could have him. Not even her master. Despite her burning desire to have Marsala trained in the Sith arts, even she wasn't going to let that one happen.

Yes, it truly was a shame.

"KATARINA!"

Then again, she thought, maybe Dahlgen will get here in time. With a maniacal grin on her face, Katarina slowly backed away from the generator and turned to face him. "Dahlgen darling, so lovely of you to finally arrive." She sneered when she saw what he was wearing. "What's with the ancient armor and face mask?" she demanded. "Do you fancy yourself as some sort of modern Revanchist?"

Dahlgen hadn't really thought of it that way before, but in a way he supposed Katarina was right. "So what if do? Do try to remember somewhere in that dark fog addled brain of yours that I am his descendant."

Katarina shrugged. "It doesn't matter I guess," she admitted. "Either way, you're just in time to witness my final victory."

Dahlgen wasn't impressed with her claims. "Step away from the generator."

"Or what?" Katarina challenged.

"Or I'll jam my saber through up your ass and through your heart," Dahlgen growled.

Katarina laughed. "That's hardly going to be necessary Dahlgen," she revealed. She bowed slightly and spread her arms wide an instant before stepping aside and showing him the decreasing timer. "Behold Dahlgen! The countdown is already almost up!"

She never saw the wide-eyed expression on Dahlgen's face as he observed with horror that there were only nine seconds left before the Mass Shadow Generator went active. Frantically his mind raced through his options. He couldn't Force Throw the generator away. Where would he throw it to?

His mind settled on the only option available to him and that was to desperately try to hack it to pieces before the timer expired. Igniting his double saber and employing Knight Speed, he covered the remaining separating him and the generator in less than a second. Katarina seemed uncharacteristically willing to let him try his feeble attempt to stop the inevitable as he passed her.

Eight seconds.

He swung his double blade violently at the generator's housing, only to watch in shock as it sparked against it but otherwise, did no damage. He thrust his saber forward only to grunt painfully as it skidded off to the side and Dahlgen twisted his wrists a bit. Nothing was working. He couldn't even scratch the surface of the housing, much less penetrate it.

Seven seconds.

Katarina laughed as loud as her maniacal voice would let her as she watched Dahlgen helplessly try anything to stop the generator. "You're too late Dahlgen! You're too late!"

Dahlgen refused to give up, swinging and hammering his double saber against the device in what was rapidly becoming to him, a lost cause. There was no way he could stop it. The outer housing was made of the same tertronium alloy that the power generation unit was, making it nearly impervious to lightsaber attack.

Six seconds.

We're too late Maris, he shouted to her through their special link even as he continued to batter away at it. The generator is going active in a few seconds and I can't stop it. We're too late. I'm sorry.

I understand, Maris's comforting voice spoke back to him. I love you.

I love you, Dahlgen replied with Katarina's maniacal laughter now nothing more than background noise.

Dahlgen got on his comlink and issued the alert. "All units, the generator is going active. Repeat, generator is going active. Evacuate immediately."

"It's no use Dahlgen," Katarina laughed. "You're doomed! Just like all of you pathetic friends! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA…"

Five seconds.